Public's help needed to send Team Hawaii to the American Culinary Federation National Convention in Florida, July 11-14

HONOLULU — Kapiʻolani Community College‘s Junior American Culinary Federation (ACF) Competition Team, also known as Team Hawaiʻi, is going for the gold and hopes that Hawaiʻi residents will come forward to help them get to the national championship.

Team Hawaiʻi captured the top prize at the ACF‘s Student Team Western Regional Championship in April, and is one of four teams that will be competing for the national title at the 2009 ACF National Convention in Orlando, Fla., July 11-14. The team with the highest score will be named ACF Student Team National Champions for 2009.

A fundraising goal of $40,000 has been set to support Team Hawaiʻi, which will help cover food for competition practice and the competition, travel (air and ground), hotel, meals, promotion, and seed money for Team Hawaiʻi 2009-2010. A variety of fundraising events are scheduled to help meet this goal, including practice lunches throughout the month of June for which individuals or companies can purchase tickets. Donations in support of the team can also be made by contacting Linh Hoang at (808) 734-9570 or by donating online at www.uhf.hawaii.edu/KapiolaniCC-ACFGoldTeam.

This is the first time a team from Kapiʻolani CC has captured the top prize in a regional ACF competition and the second time a UH community college team has won. Maui Community College captured the Western Regional Championship in 2000.

The team spent months learning and refining advanced culinary skills in preparation for the ACF regional competition, and edged out seven other Western Region student culinary teams for the title, including teams from Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. The Kapiʻolani student team will compete against representative teams from the Northeast, Central and Southeast Regions at the 2009 ACF National Convention in Orlando.